Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Cornish Pasties
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the filling
Cut the steak into small pieces.
Wash the potatoes, peel them, and cut them into small pieces.
Peel the onion and finely chop it.
Make the pastry
Combine flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl.
Rub in the dripping until well mixed.
Add enough cold water to form a stiff paste.
Flour a board and turn the paste onto it.
Roll the paste out to about ¼ inch thick.
Cut the paste into squares about 6-7 inches wide.
Assemble and bake
Place some meat and potato in the center of each square.
Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a little onion.
Fold the paste over the filling and press the edges to seal.
Grease a baking tin and place the pasties on it.
Bake in the oven at 400°F (200°C) for 30 to 45 minutes.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,052 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the pastry dough that encloses the filling.
- Dripping
- Rubbed into the flour to add fat, making the pastry tender and flaky.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the dough, giving the pastry a light rise.
- Beef skirt or buttock steak
- Provides the meat filling, which cooks through inside the sealed pastry.
- Potatoes
- Add bulk and moisture to the filling as they cook in the sealed pastry.
The step that matters
Press the edges to seal. A tight seal keeps juices and steam inside the pasty while it bakes. A weak seal lets the filling leak out and leaves it drier and less evenly cooked.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, potato, flour, pepper):
- Chivefits better
- Carrotfits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, flour, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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